Smart phones, tablets and other “smart devices” are becoming increasingly ubiquitous, and increasingly powerful. Many consumers carry smart devices with them at most (if not all) times, and many new applications continue to be developed for these devices. Recently, for example, numerous applications have been created that allow the user's phone, tablet, computer or other smart device to control other components, such as home entertainment devices. In such cases, a smart device generally executes a software application that allows the user to control a media player, set top box, digital video recorder, placeshifting device, television, video game player and/or any number of other devices.
Generally speaking, it is relatively easy to provide new software to the user's phone, tablet or other smart device through an app store or the like. Installing new software on a controlled device such as a media player, however, can be more difficult due to the more specific nature of home electronics and the desire to maintain robust and secure software on the controlled device. If a user already owns a media player device, for example, it can be a challenge to install appropriate software on the media player to add new functionality after the media player has already been sold and installed at the user's premises.
Traditionally, users installed new applications by directly interacting with the user interface of the controlled device itself. That is, a user would typically interact with an app store, web site or the like to obtain and download new applications. Alternatively, the device itself would obtain a new software or firmware version that might provide new features. Manually installing a software application on a media player or other controlled device, however, can be cumbersome to some users. Moreover, many users will simply not take the effort to learn about new applications or to download newly-discovered applications. While a firmware update can be less obtrusive, it may not be desirable to include optional features (such as those often found in many applications) within a firmware update that is typically sent globally to all devices currently in operation.
It is therefore desirable to create systems, devices and processes to efficiently and effectively install new applications that can facilitate new functionalities on media players and other controlled devices. These and other desirable features and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background section.